Everyone gets a little more backstory this week. Young Elam is shown as a slave. He was made to read for his master's friends, not as a sign of his intelligence but as proof that slaves could be "trained like parrots." In actuality, young Elam understood far more than he let on. In the present day (aka 1865), Toole and his cronies drag Elam to the saloon for a hanging. Eva pleads with Cullen to save him. He's reluctant, but he rides in on his horse at the last minute like a knight in grimy armor and flees Hell on Wheels with Elam. At first, Elam is still kind of an ass to Cullen, but then he hears Cullen talking about his son. Cullen found the boy, burned to death by Union soldiers, cradled in the arms of the former slave who'd also raised Cullen. He says he realized then that his wife had been right to want their slaves freed. The day, Toole and an assortment of assholes come looking for them. Cullen quickly dispatches most of them, while Elam does away with Toole. It's like Christmas came early.
Meanwhile, Lily and Doc head to Chicago. En route, Doc mopes about his impending ruin and his crappy childhood in Hell's Kitchen. This diverges from the real Doc Durant's life story, but it does give Lily the opportunity to order him to stop feeling sorry for himself and figure a way out of his problems. Thus kicked in the pants, Doc realizes he can make a bundle by connecting the rail to New York. When he goes to see Jordan Crane the day, he gives the man an erroneous stock tip about his new project. This leaves Crane destitute and Doc five million bucks richer. While that's going on, Lily visits her late husband's family. They're all in black while Lily is in blazing red. Her in-laws make no secret of their disdain for Lily, who finally snaps and slaps the crap out of one of them when they blame her for Robert's death. In the end, she decides to return to Hell on Wheels with Doc instead of going on to England. Doc, of course, is now crushing on her pretty hard, as am I. Stay tuned for the full recap.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!When last we saw Elam, he was being dragged out of a tent by Toole and his scuzzy pals, about to be hanged for spending time with Eva. Before we find out what happens after that, we visit Elam as a nine-year-old, standing in front of his master and various other well-dressed white folks. In his little hands, he holds a large Bible and reads from it the Rules for Christian Households. Mr. Ferguson beams with pride as little Elam haltingly reads the words. It's not pride in Elam, mind you, but pride in himself for having trained a lowly slave to accomplish such a trick. "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord." When Elam stumbles over the word "sincerity," Mr. Ferguson helps him out. His friends are amazed. They also hand some money to Ferguson, having apparently lost a bet on the subject. "It's dangerous, you know, teaching them to read," one of Ferguson's friends says, invoking Nat Turner as an example. Ferguson scoffs and asks Elam if he understood any of what he just read. Elam answers that he did not. Ferguson turns to his friends. "See? It's like a parrot reciting Shakespeare!" He deigns to praise his parrot: "Well done, Elam. Well done."
Later, with his family, Elam is presented with a small Bible they've kept hidden in the rafters of the barn in which they live. While another young slave keeps watch at the door, Elam begins to read at the dinner table. As he's no longer in the presence of the man he'd prefer to have underestimate him, Elam reads from Exodus quickly and easily. "Now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites who the Egyptians hold in slavery, and I have remembered my promise. Say unto the children of Israel I am the Lord." He closes the book and says the rest from memory: "I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid you out from under their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and ye shall know that I am the Lord." Cue the opening credits.
Hell on Wheels. Workers ready the train for Doc and Lily's departure. Doc has called a meeting in his car to show off Robert's maps. Cullen, the young engineer, the Swede and a few others are in attendance. Doc speaks with confidence as he shows the men where they'll build the train and strike the Rockies to meet the government deadline. As soon as the men file out, though, it's apparent Doc is still racked with worry. "We won't finish anything if I don't dig myself out of this hole I'm in," he says. Only the Swede remains. When Doc says he's escorting Lily back to Chicago, the Swede makes a sound of naughty appreciation. "You can wipe that lascivious look off your face," Doc says. The look remains, so Doc hastens to explain, "It's not what you think. I'm seeing Senator Crane!" And Crane doesn't want to share him with Lily or something? The Swede says, in a singsong voice, "But I have seen how she looks at you." Doc dismisses the notion, but when the Swede encourages him, he can't help but feel a little hopeful.